Sunday, October 26, 2014

Lori Popelka, SAGA Region III Representative has some great tips on hunting for vintage linens and related items. Lori shares some of her tips and tricks with us.

To find local estate
sales, you can register your zip code with EstateSales.org and they will send
you information about sales in your area. The photos are generally very
good and give you an idea of the sale being worth your time.

I like
the church based thrift stores for linens also. They are generally run by
volunteers and are neat, organized and friendly.

When I shop on ebay I
like to find things with weird descriptions, so I always search through the
“related” field under the search box. I have found many neat things this
way. I find January and February are good months for finding nice things
that fewer people are bidding on because they are still paying for
Christmas.

I spend time in the higher end antique shows and flea markets
so I know what to look for when I am in thrift stores, estate sales and even
garage sales, when I have the time. This way, you know when you have
found a bargain or not!

Some of Lori's recent finds.

Thanks, Lori and I am glad we live in different places as I know we'd be competing for the bargains!

Do you have any tips, tricks or great finds to share with us? Email me at saganews@smocking.org and you might be featured on the blog!

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Welcome to our Mystery Ornament Smock-Along! You can
find a complete list of materials needed for our Smock-Along at www.smocking.org. This
post will take you step by step through pleating your fabric so you are all
ready to start smocking when our first clue is posted on November 3rd!
I also have some suggestions if you
don’t have a pleater. Don’t forget to
head on over and join our facebook group <https://www.facebook.com/groups/1554532568114047/. >
I will be monitoring the group and will try and answer any questions. Your
fellow smockers will also be able to give you some advice. Come show us your fabric and thread choices
and be part of the fun! You can also check back here for step by step photos on
completing the different stitches as we go through the Smock-Along. So let’s
get started!

I have gathered all my supplies and am ready to start.
You can use any color fabric you would like. My crimson fabric is plain 100%
Kona cotton that you should be able to pick up at any fabric or quilt shop. If
you would like online sources, go to our website and check out our business
members, they will be happy to assist you with your fabric choice. The easiest fabric to pleat if you are a
beginner is a good quality 100% cotton such as this Kona cotton, or Imperial
Broadcloth which is 65% cotton and 35% polyester.

I have ironed and spray starched my fabric. Before
putting the fabric through my pleater, I have used a purple disappearing marker
to draw a long vertical line down the center of my 5 ½ inch piece of fabric. I will
be pleating 11 rows and will line up this vertical line with the 6th
needle on my pleater. I have also drawn 3 horizontal lines on my fabric at
various points along the fabric. It isn’t important where the lines are drawn.
The purpose is that as I am pleating the fabric, the horizontal line should go
into the pleater evenly. This tells me that I am on grain. If one side of the
line is approaching the pleater quicker than another, then I need to make
slight adjustments, placing tension on one side to slow it down and let the
other catch up.

I have pulled my thread out of one side of the fabric
to form a seam allowance and tied off my pleats, two by two (and one three) and
have pushed my pleats up against the tied off side. I want to block my piece of
fabric at 9 inches which is what I need to go around my 3 inch ball. Before I
pull out pleats to form the other seam allowance and tie off, I want to count
my pleats. I did this by pushing a pin into the valley between every 20 pleats.
Our directions specify that the design will be a 16 pleat repeat. I have 144
pleats (16 x 9) which is perfect. If you have less than 144 pleats, you can
drop down to 128. The goal is a 9 inch piece of pleated fabric with the pleats
nicely spaced and a total that is a multiple of 16. I have tied off my piece,
given it a quick shot of spray starch and will let it sit overnight to set
those pleats.

Troubleshooting: So maybe things didn’t go as smoothly
with you and your pleater as it did for me. What do you do if you are off
grain? Well that all depends…did I mention that this is an ornament, that it will
go on the tree, and that there are no smocking police? The idea is to have fun.
This isn’t a dress that has to drape. It is an ornament and its back side will
be against the tree. So my advice is that unless your pleating is so bad that
you will be fighting it as you smock, or it is going to keep you up nights,
that you should leave it be. Having said that, if you do have lots of split
pleats, and you are going to be fighting it as you try to smock, take out the
pleating threads, give it a good spray with water, iron and starch it, and try
again.

So what if you don’t have a pleater, and you want to
make an ornament? Have you tried contacting your local chapter? Many of our
chapters have pleaters that you can borrow. Still no luck? You can use striped
fabric. Use that your purple or blue marker to draw lines every 3/8 inch across
your fabric and then run gathering lines picking up the stripes every 3/8 of an
inch across. This will take more time, but as you sit there waiting for the car
pool, or watching the soccer game, in a few minutes you can have a row
gathered. Again our business members will have an appropriate fabric.

You can also purchase iron on dots, and again you run a
gathering thread picking up the dots as you go.

Finally, gather everything together and get ready to
join our Smock-Along!

Friday, October 17, 2014

The Ashmolean Museum, in Oxford, England recently held an
exhibition of a needlework collection they received as a gift. The gift
consists of one of the word’s finest collections of historic English
embroideries and was given by collectors, Michéal and Elizabeth Feller. In all
61 pieces comprise the collection which spans the seventeenth century. The
exhibition, The Eye of the Needle, ran
until 12 October.

Donor, Elizabeth
Feller says that it is thanks to her mother’s influence, sewing and embroidery
has been a meaningful activity throughout her life. The collection began with pieces
worked by other people and consisted of small household items such as
needlepoint cushions and went on to include samplers, panels and other items.
All are steeped in English history and stories of the people who embroidered
them.

Michéal and
Elizabeth Feller are long term residents of Oxford and own a butcher’s shop in
the City’s covered market.

The following description of the embroideries is from the
museum website (www.ashmolean.org)

The pieces
which have been given to the Museum are seventeenth-century embroideries which
include dramatic pictorial panels, samplers, domestic items and costume pieces.
These embroideries were made during one of the most turbulent centuries in
English history, when religious and political conflict split families and the
country. Beyond the opportunity for demonstrating technical ability, the
embroideries illustrate the themes and concerns which occupied the minds of the
young women making them. They often depict biblical stories at a time when
religious issues, including the use of images, aroused great controversy.
Similarly, during a period of increasing urbanization the pictorial pieces show
idyllic country scenes with imaginary creatures and flowers.

Exquisite
objects in their own right made with colourful silks, pearls, and semi-precious
stones, the embroideries also reflect the religious, political and social
concerns of the English Civil War period.

Besides telling a
story and history of the period, looking at some of these pieces I wonder how
they were created with such fine work and wonderful colours when the embroiderer
had none of the modern equipment we today take for granted. Not for them the
luxury of a daylight lamp right at hand or a magnifier. No super sharp steel
needles; tiny needle threaders or set of Dovo scissors. These needle workers
used crude tools and worked in poor light. Think what they could have achieved with
the benefit of todays tools and lighting!

The following site
has a link to two books showing these works in detail
www.needleprint.blogspot.com

Sunday, October 12, 2014

I am getting close to my next deadline-October 15. That deadline is the last date I can receive anything for publication in the next issue of SAGANews. This issue has a winter/holiday look to it-why not it will soon be that time of year!

Yes, my mug says "What's a Deadline"

So, do you have anything you want to submit?
Has your chapter done something special? That would go in Chapter Chatter.
Has your chapter hosted a teacher-write about it to encourage others to host a workshop-that too is Chapter Chatter.
Have you made something special? That would be a Member Showcase item- always nice to see someones pretty creations!
Have you smocked outside the box using the Stitch Games? Email a photo!

Do you have any ideas or projects to submit for a future issue? It is really easy-just send an email to saganews@smocking.org outlining your design, item or project and before you know it it might be in print!

Don't forget it isn't just smocking- we need heirloom sewing items, Wee Care designs, embroidery projects-just one stipulation they must be original.

Thursday, October 9, 2014

I plan to take part in the Smock Across America challenge and will have my photo taken
wherever I happen to be with my smocking! I hope that you are going to rise to the
challenge too? Let us see how many towns, cities, states (and countries) we can
cover between us!

Just have your photo taken with your smocking or heirloom sewing and if you can
get the Smock Across America logo in
there somewhere all the better! Then email the photos to saganews@smocking .org
.They will be then be posted on one of the SAGA social media sites.

Of course, it would also be wonderful if you were teaching
someone to smock in the photo!

I look forward to my smocking adventures and I hope to hear
about yours too!